Beauty, like truth, is relative to the time when one lives and to the individual who can grasp it.

The principle of realism means denial of the ideal.

When I am no longer controversial, I will no longer be important

I hope to live all my life for my art, without abandoning my principles one iota, without . . . having painted as much as you can cover with your hand, to please somebody or in order to sell the picture more easily.

I have never seen either angels or goddesses, so I am not interested in painting them.

I am not one who was born in the custody of wisdom; I am one who is fond of olden times and intense in quest of the sacred knowing of the ancients.

The beautiful is in nature, and it is encountered under the most diverse forms of reality. Once it is found it belongs to art, or rather to the artist who discovers it.